Shannon Garvey has three dogs inside her Port St. Lucie home, including an adorable one-year-old pit bull rescue named Fiona.Fiona is deaf and has separation anxiety, so Garvey drops Fiona off at a pet sitter across town on her way to work."Basically, she gets a little freaked out when she's left by herself," Garvey said.Download app: iOS | AndroidLast Thursday, Garvey went to pick up Fiona around 5:30 p.m. but the sitter wasn't there."First, I thought maybe he went to the store, he had to go out for some reason," Garvey said. "But normally, he would text."By 7:30, another customer had arrived but there was still no sign of the pet sitter."And then the clock kept ticking and we finally decided that we had to call 911 because our dogs were in there," Garvey said.Police responded and went inside the house to make sure nobody needed help.The dogs were inside but no people.Police told Garvey there was nothing they could do."We stayed parked outside of his house the entire night," Garvey said. "This is my girl. I wasn't going to let anything happen to my girl."Early the next morning, the sitter had still not returned home.Garvey called police again. This time, the police officer had an idea."He did a little research and he was able to locate the sitter," Garvey said with a laugh. "In jail."Michael Nelson had been arrested Thursday afternoon for theft and marijuana possession.From his jail cell, he gave police permission to enter his house and get the dogs, who had been alone for about 16 hours."All Fiona wanted to do was just lay on my lap," Garvey said "She was a little shaken, I think."Garvey said it took a few days but Fiona is essentially back to normal.Garvey also said she's now in the market for a new dog sitter."I'm definitely going to be a little more careful before I send her to another sitter," she said.Get the WPBF 25 News App

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —

Shannon Garvey has three dogs inside her Port St. Lucie home, including an adorable one-year-old pit bull rescue named Fiona.

Fiona is deaf and has separation anxiety, so Garvey drops Fiona off at a pet sitter across town on her way to work.

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"Basically, she gets a little freaked out when she's left by herself," Garvey said.